Joining the Tenth Circuit, the Ninth Circuit also has held that chapter 13 trustees are not paid their fees when cases are dismissed before confirmation. The identical issue was argued on February 15 before the Second Circuit.
In short order, we’ll have either unanimity or a split of circuits. A split will give rise to an issue worthy of a grant of certiorari by the Supreme Court.
Notably, the Ninth Circuit’s opinion on June 12 adopted reasoning in an amicus brief filed in support of the debtor by the National Consumer Bankruptcy Rights Center and National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys.
Circuit Judge Thomas L. Ambro has written another gem.
For the Third Circuit in an opinion on September 3, Judge Ambro drew the boundaries between the rules of preclusion and the Rooker-Feldman doctrin.....
On January 8, we reported on a decision where Chief Bankruptcy Judge Catherine J. Furay of Madison, Wis., held that a judgment creditor must docket the judgment to have a judgment lien on real.....
Equitable tolling can permit a trustee to maintain a fraudulent transfer action when statutes of limitations expired under both state and federal law, as explained in an October 16 opinion by.....
In Tyler v. Hennepin County, 598 U.S. 631 (2023), the Supreme Court decided in May 2023 that a real estate tax foreclosure can violate the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment when a municipality.....
On two important questions, the Third Circuit handed down a decision on modification of chapter 13 plans that should apply equally to modified chapter 11 plans:
1. When the debtor moves to modify a.....
The Supreme Court’s decisions in Bullard and Ritzen didn’t undercut the Third Circuit’s longstanding “pragmatic approach” to judging finality in bankruptcy cases, nor did they undermine In re Brown, 9.....
“[W]hen an attorney learns that a client has engaged in fraudulent or unauthorized conduct,” the lawyer “must take reasonable remedial measures, including, if necessary, disclosure to the tribunal,”.....
A settlement term sheet signed after mediation by the debtor, her nondebtor husband and the creditor was enforceable, according to Bankruptcy Judge Ashely M. Chan of Philadelphia, even though the.....
A district judge in New Jersey held that a chapter 7 trustee isn’t entitled to a commission based on disbursements to the trustee’s own counsel. The judge believes that counsel for a trustee is not a.....
Bankruptcy Judge Gregory L. Taddonio has a way with words. “Sometimes,” he said, “even the most settled legal principles need to be repeated.” For example, “strict rules” exist “governing the.....